(Yicai Global) Sept. 13 -- Apple unveiled three new handsets, the iPhone XS, iPhone XS MAX and iPhone XR, this morning with prices moderately reduced from the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8, but last year's leading product, the iPhone X was mysteriously absent from the lineup.

Canny web users noted the purchase page for the iPhone X was also missing from Apple's official Chinese website, which aroused suspicion that iPhone X sale or even production has stopped.

"Production halted? How is that possible?" Apple told China News Service in reply to speculation as to the iPhone X's no-show.

As Apple's top product, the iPhone X would inevitably have affected the new products if its price had dropped significantly, so the best choice would indeed have been to ax it. Only third parties are now selling it to clear their inventories. Apple has always let operators and distributors conduct their own iPhone X sales.

The new iPhones do not usher in any big changes this time as face scanning is last year's technology with upgrades, but is still old hat. Apple it seems is also reluctant to part ways with the 'Home' button, and the powerful A12 chip will not prove itself until tested by actual experience, but its price is historically high.

The press briefing for the new iPhone also elicited jeers from peers. Yu Chengdong, Huawei Technologies consumer business chief executive who goes by the English name Richard Yu, was the first to weigh in with, "Solid! Let's meet in London on October 16!"
The company has announced it will debut its new Huawei Mate 20 at an undisclosed event in the English capital on that date.

The market take on it is that Yu must be feeling smug about Huawei Mate 20 sales after seeing several iPhones and their prices.